While existing antibody-drug conjugates have been incredible advancements in cancer care, patients are ready for a better experience. At the BIO International Convention in San Diego on Thursday, BioSpace will lead a discussion on the next generation of ADCs.
Nurse practitioner Archana Ajmera has seen firsthand what patients can face when they receive an antibody-drug conjugate for their cancer. Interstitial lung disease is a common side effect, causing scarring of the lung tissue that can make breathing difficult. Severe cases result in death.
Patients are treated with high dose steroids and sometimes have to discontinue treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). That’s the last thing many patients with complex cancers want to do if a drug is working.
Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca’s Enhertu was first approved in 2019, providing a new, more targeted cytotoxic drug for the treatment of breast cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer and other solid tumors. The HER2-targeting ADC improved survival for patients and has since moved up in the line of treatment.
Enhertu changed the treatment paradigm but became associated with side effects like interstitial lung disease (ILD). Both Daiichi and AstraZeneca are trying to improve on the model with new candidates.
But so too are a lineup of biotechs. That’s where Zymeworks and Kivu Biosciences stand. They want the improvements in survival with a better experience for patients.
So as new ADCs with better safety and tolerability advance in the clinic, what exactly does that mean for patients? That’s a question we will try to answer at the BIO International Convention in San Diego on Thursday, in a panel I’m hosting called The Next Generation of ADCs: Building Kinder, Gentler Cancer Therapeutics.
Ajmera, who practices at UC San Diego Health, will join me, providing insight into the patient experience from the bedside.
Then we’ll cover the exciting science happening in the preclinical space with Merck’s Michael Seganish, a scientist in the oncology leader’s discovery chemistry group who has been focusing on ADCs for the past six years. Seganish will arrive straight from the lab to tell us about the new payloads, mechanisms and discovery work that will form the basis of the ADCs of the future.
New research is showing how ADCs can be combined with immunotherapy, further boosting treatment efficacy. Seganish’s perspective comes from the company on the leading edge of immuno-oncology—the home of Keytruda.
From there, the discussion will shift to the treatments that are moving closer to patients. Zymeworks Chief Medical Officer Sabeen Mekan and Kivu Biosciences’ Mohit Trikha will provide a snapshot of the clinical space and how their companies are trying to create safer ADCs.
Succeeding in that endeavor could require breaking down the effects of ADCs’ different parts, said Jakob Dupont, executive partner at Sofinnova Investments and another member of the panel. TROP2-targeting agents can cause skin toxicity, for instance. So perhaps a different antigen would serve as a better target for patients with existing skin issues.
The payload, meanwhile, is the bomb dropped on the cancer. It’s the agent of therapy but also the agent of toxicity, Dupont explained.
“ADCs are one of the most complicated molecules we can build. If we don’t have to make an ADC, we won’t,” he told BioSpace ahead of the panel. Patient selection isn’t just for finding treatments that will work the best—it’s about avoiding toxicity, too, Dupont added.
Investors like Dupont are constantly searching for new assets to put their money behind. A key question, he said, is how a new candidate can solve a problem. ADCs have seen big investment on the venture capital side as well as through mega-partnerships between Big Pharmas and smaller biopharmas.
All these experts will come together to explain how the next generation of ADC therapies can improve the patient experience, with kinder, gentler options. Join BioSpace at BIO 2026 to find out more.
